Freedman out!

[BWFC_Insane]

paying Zat Knight 200k a week won't make him better but replacing him with a centre half worth those wages would like as not have a positive effect.

So why did he get rid of Ricketts and play a centre half at right back, when he could have replaced Knight with him? It's not all about throwing more money at the problem.

Because Ricketts wasn't very good (anymore) and more than likely on a decent wedge.

[coffeymagic]

I've just read Dougie's assesment of Saturday's game and I'm totally bewildered.

What is he talking about 11 'crazy' minutes? It doesn't matter if the goals come in the first, second or last minute we all know that there's at least one, usually two and often more on the way.

From the brief lowlights on FLS it looked like Brighton were peppering our goal and it was only a matter of time before the net bulged.

He then mentions 'Plan B' what? That would mean that what we're seeing now is 'Plan A'. Has he really sat down and thought this through? Plan A appears to be 'play a load of duck eggs and see how it goes'.

Also we've got the BN reprinting old articles about how we've got to 'pull together' and 'stop feeling sorry for ourselves'. They've crossed out the words 'Reo-Coker' and replaced them with 'Tierney' but it's the same old same old.

I didn't see 'fans fury at Freedman' what was all that about? I can imagine some season-ticket ripping loons effing and jeffing at a bemused Dougie but it's all for show isn't it?

Oh I don't know. I don't think we can sack Freedman because the next person who comes in will be just as big a clown but what can we do?

Nothing I suppose, it's all up to Dougie and his secret plan, stashed in a drawer somewhere.

'Win some games' It probably says.

[coffeymagic]

If he does go then I'd like to think we could set our sights a little bit higher than Pullis, Mick Mc, Phil Brown or any other the other radio pundits.

Has anyone thought of a certain purple faced bastard who's not doing much these days?

Pay him whatever he wants, he could still interfere with Moyes (in which ever way he sees fit) come in for the season, get us promoted and then perhaps reconsider his retirement.

Would you have him here?

If he wanted to prove himself as a 'great' manager then what better place to come and do it?

[Hoboh]

Sunderland are interested.

In Freedman or Peter Reid?

Our Duggie.

I'll drive

[Hoboh]

If he does go then I'd like to think we could set our sights a little bit higher than Pullis, Mick Mc, Phil Brown or any other the other radio pundits.

Has anyone thought of a certain purple faced bastard who's not doing much these days?

Pay him whatever he wants, he could still interfere with Moyes (in which ever way he sees fit) come in for the season, get us promoted and then perhaps reconsider his retirement.

Would you have him here?
If he wanted to prove himself as a 'great' manager then what better place to come and do it?

I hate to say this but if he did I'd wash his car for him while he was ripping lumps out of the spineless creatures at training.

[BL3]

Sunderland are interested.

In Freedman or Peter Reid?

Our Duggie.

I'll drive

He must have been confusing it with the odds for the next manager to be sacked.

Di Matteo, Pulis and Poyet are shortest odds for the Sunderland job.

[jaffka]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24203543" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Duggie will not walk away.

Of course you wont as you need to keep your family safe.

He knows that the big axe is being sharpened though.

[Hoboh]

"We turned a lot around last season when we gathered some momentum. We are slipping over in certain matches but we're certainly not falling down."

"It is a big match (Yo) and simply a match we've got to win," added the Scot. "The good thing about is that these players can win football matches if they're focused and concentrated for 95 minutes rather than 80 minutes."

Who are you trying to convice Freedman, us, the players or yourself?

[Athers]

I still wouldn't get rid of him, I've always been the patient type but I've just totally lost my thirst for blood I think. Just may as well suffer.

[SmokinFrazier]

What is he talking about 11 'crazy' minutes? It doesn't matter if the goals come in the first, second or last minute we all know that there's at least one, usually two and often more on the way.

From the brief lowlights on FLS it looked like Brighton were peppering our goal and it was only a matter of time before the net bulged.

We were defending in the same way which has cost us throughout the season. I made a long winded post explaining why we conceded 4 goals against Blackburn the other week, and a lot of our defensive problems are caused by a glaring gap just outside our box which our defenders are nowhere near. That didn't cost us against Brighton, like it has done over the rest of the season, but that gap was still there for two of their goals and it's a glaring problem which just isn't being addressed. For their second goal, we had 9 men inside out box yet nobody hovering just outside it. For their third goal, we had 8 men inside our box and nobody outside it, where they had two players in a perfect shooting opportunity. As it happened, Buckley didn't pass to either of them and scored a good goal anyway, but this same defensive flaw which has cost us all season just isn't being sorted out. We sit too deep and it causes the opposition to just batter our defence. I don't have an issue with sides defending deep or getting plenty of men back, but there's a right way to do it and then there's the Freedman way which invites massive amounts of pressure and doesn't prevent shooting opportunities.

Maybe next week, Freedman will insist on having 10 men in our own penalty area at all times. Better yet, why not have 11 men inside our own 6 yard box to make it even easier for the opposition? Coyle was lambasted for how our defence performed under him but it was clear that we spent all our time training working on other areas. What's more worrying about Freedman is the fact that he builds his team around a solid defence, yet his only answer is to defend deep and in numbers which just doesn't work.

[SmokinFrazier]

What is he talking about 11 'crazy' minutes? It doesn't matter if the goals come in the first, second or last minute we all know that there's at least one, usually two and often more on the way.

From the brief lowlights on FLS it looked like Brighton were peppering our goal and it was only a matter of time before the net bulged.

We were defending in the same way which has cost us throughout the season. I made a long winded post explaining why we conceded 4 goals against Blackburn the other week, and a lot of our defensive problems are caused by a glaring gap just outside our box which our defenders are nowhere near. That didn't cost us against Brighton, like it has done over the rest of the season, but that gap was still there for two of their goals and it's a glaring problem which just isn't being addressed. For their second goal, we had 9 men inside out box yet nobody hovering just outside it. For their third goal, we had 8 men inside our box and nobody outside it, where they had two players in a perfect shooting opportunity. As it happened, Buckley didn't pass to either of them and scored a good goal anyway, but this same defensive flaw which has cost us all season just isn't being sorted out. We sit too deep and it causes the opposition to just batter our defence. I don't have an issue with sides defending deep or getting plenty of men back, but there's a right way to do it and then there's the Freedman way which invites massive amounts of pressure and doesn't prevent shooting opportunities.

Maybe next week, Freedman will insist on having 10 men in our own penalty area at all times. Better yet, why not have 11 men inside our own 6 yard box to make it even easier for the opposition? Coyle was lambasted for how our defence performed under him but it was clear that we spent all our time training working on other areas. What's more worrying about Freedman is the fact that he builds his team around a solid defence, yet his only answer is to defend deep and in numbers which just doesn't work.

Doesn't appear that way to me. In fact didn't the Palace fans say, when he moved here, that defence was more of an afterthought with him? I mean he certainly seems to play us in a rather negative way but if he built his team around a solid defence surely he'd have put more priority into getting a better back line, not just replacing players we'd lost and getting Beckford in? I also think that part of the reason we appear so negative is because our back line is so awful that he wants to try and protect them by any means necessary. Not saying he's going the right way about it like, but I can see what he's trying to do.

Not to mention that our defence is slow as $hit, so having a high defensive line would not work in my opinion.

I dunno, I think there's more to do with this than simply Freedman using the wrong tactics or being too negative. Our backline is awful, and has been for the best part of 3 years.

I think Baptiste and Tierney were both good additions to our defence. We'd have obviously liked to have Dawson too but out of the three defensive targets we had set out for, we got two of them and we don't 'need' Dawson, he would have just been a very good addition. We have a choice of four centre backs and they're not all terrible players.

Regardless of how good these players are though, they're all able to follow instructions but Freedman simply sets them out wrong. If we were conceding goals because our keeper was letting the ball slip through his hands every game, our full backs were giving away penalties and our centre backs were missing tackles by a yard, then the blame should be put on them. However, most of the goals we concede are down to a poor set up defensively. Knight is the exception to that, as he's had a very poor season, but the rest haven't been too error prone. We sit far too deep, invite pressure and leave gaps which make it easy for the opposition to get shots off.

Like I said before, I don't mind us defending deep. As you said, we have a slow backline and that limits us, but there is 'deep' and 'too deep'. We are too deep and that hurts us defensively because there's not enough pressure being applied on their players when they're in threatening positions. Our players just stand in the box, hoping the ball will hit them when one of their strikers shoots from a great position. It's awful defending and this isn't a problem with the players, it's the way they're being organised.

[cmbfc_90]

The comment that has annoyed me the most is Dougie is "confident his job is safe". No manager even jose mourinho should make such a bold statement especially with results and performances like that!

[Bruce Rioja]

It's awful defending and this isn't a problem with the players, it's the way they're being organised.

I'd venture that it's both. Knight we know about but, for eg. look how Wheater stands ball-watching on Brighton's 2nd as their lad just pulls back off him into space to receive the ball. Real schoolboy stuff. Then how on their 3rd the lad runs through our lot without a single challenge - we don't even try to close him down. That's not Freedman's fault.

[Madrigal]

Way too many post to wade through on this so sorry if it has already been covered but is it not time to start looking at the person making the appointments. The last 3 haven't done anything to move the club on. If DF goes should there not be a review of the set up of the board especially the chairman?

[Bruce Rioja]

^ I haven't time to check it just now but I'd like to see a comparison with our last four managerial appointments set against those of Swansea City, the time frame, and where each club was at the beginning of those appointments?

[BWFC_Insane]

It's awful defending and this isn't a problem with the players, it's the way they're being organised.

I'd venture that it's both. Knight we know about but, for eg. look how Wheater stands ball-watching on Brighton's 2nd as their lad just pulls back off him into space to receive the ball. Real schoolboy stuff. Then how on their 3rd the lad runs through our lot without a single challenge - we don't even try to close him down. That's not Freedman's fault.

Further it highlights that it isn't all "Knight's fault".

I'd wager that between Mills, Wheater, Ream and Knight there isn't a solid, dependable centre half between them. Let alone two!

[Bruce Rioja]

It's awful defending and this isn't a problem with the players, it's the way they're being organised.

I'd venture that it's both. Knight we know about but, for eg. look how Wheater stands ball-watching on Brighton's 2nd as their lad just pulls back off him into space to receive the ball. Real schoolboy stuff. Then how on their 3rd the lad runs through our lot without a single challenge - we don't even try to close him down. That's not Freedman's fault.

Further it highlights that it isn't all "Knight's fault".

I'd wager that between Mills, Wheater, Ream and Knight there isn't a solid, dependable centre half between them. Let alone two!

Absolutely. Just that generally Knight's 'even more' culpable than the others in the hopeless department, but they're all hopeless.

[BWFC_Insane]

It's awful defending and this isn't a problem with the players, it's the way they're being organised.

I'd venture that it's both. Knight we know about but, for eg. look how Wheater stands ball-watching on Brighton's 2nd as their lad just pulls back off him into space to receive the ball. Real schoolboy stuff. Then how on their 3rd the lad runs through our lot without a single challenge - we don't even try to close him down. That's not Freedman's fault.

Further it highlights that it isn't all "Knight's fault".

I'd wager that between Mills, Wheater, Ream and Knight there isn't a solid, dependable centre half between them. Let alone two!

Absolutely. Just that generally Knight's 'even more' culpable than the others in the hopeless department, but they're all hopeless.

Frankly I'm not sure that is true either. It is hard to judge levels of shitness though.

[coffeymagic]

The more I think about old beetroot face getting the Bolton job the more sense it makes.

It makes so much sense that I might call Radio Manchester on the way home.

One, because it'll annoy Jimmy Wagg who, despite asking for calls on 'any football topic' will only want to talk about City and two, because well...reason one is enough.

'ello Jimmeh, Jimmeh what it is right is I think Alex Feguson would make a great manager for Bolton and I'd like to see John McGinlay at the club in some capacity. what do you think Jimmeh?'

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Genuine question Frazier...

If we have 8 (or 9) in the box and none outside the box. Where the chuffin 'ell are the rest of them?